Offset printing press



Jly 3l "1923."

B. D. STEVENS ET AL OFESET PRINTLNG PRESS Filed May 4. 1917 l 3 sheets-sheet 1 HHOll. HUHVIH.

July 3l, 1923.

` 1,463.2 B. D. STEVENS ET AL.

OFFSET PRINTING PRESS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 4, 1917 25e c/ @m6 July 31,' 1923. 1,463.562

Y B. D STEVENS ET AL OFFSET PRINTING PRESS Filed My 4. 1917 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented ,Fully 31, 1923.

BURT D., STEVENS, OF EVANSTON, CARL HENDERSON AND WILLIAM SON, F O

PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS 'IO MIEI-ILE PRINTING PRESS & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

OFFSET PRINTING PRESS.

Application led May 4,

To all who-m t may concern Be it known that We, BURT D. STEVENS, of Evanston, Illinois, and CARL HENDERSON and WILLIAM SAxoN, of Oak Park, Illinois, citif zens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oifset Printing Presses, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention has for its primary object '10 the combination in one press, in a peculiarly close and eilicient cooperative relation, of constructional features adapting such press for a wide range of use in print shops of both small and large capacity, and to work wherein the maximum of exactitude is required in its production.

lVith this general object'in view the invention resides in the compact, simple and efficient tripping mechanism adapting vthe one machine to alternative use as a single or double revolution press; mechanism for etliciently inking the plate cylinder and for giving access to and for tripping the inking form rollers; an improved arrangement of a sheetpile delivery at the feeder end of the press readily movable upon occasion from an operative position adjacent the press to a position spaced therefrom to give access to the working parts of the press at that end; an auxiliary sheet delivery arranged for a1- ternative use to deliver one or more sheets to the opposite end of the press or other point for convenient-inspection by the pressman; as well as other features of improved. construction and assemblage which will hereinafter appear and which will be apparent to others skilled in this art.

In order that the'invention may be readily understood, a preferred embodiment of the same in one formof convertible single and double revolution offset press is set forth in the accompanying drawings and in the followingY detailed description based thereon. Obviously the invention is susceptible of embodiment in other andvaried constructional forms to adapt the same to the cir,- cumstances of use, wherefore it will be understood that the description and drawings are to be taken in an illustrative rather than in an unnecessarily limiting sense. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the press showing in dotted and full lines the construction 1917. Serial N0. 166,504.

and arrangement of the various parts of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view of the press proper on an enlarged scale with the side frame removed to show the operating mechanism;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the press broken away in a central portion; and

Fig. 4 is a detail fragmentary plan view of corresponding end portions of the blanket and impression cylinders showing the intermeshed gearing thereof and the cO-acting bearers thereon.

While the constructional details of the several elements of the press, aside from their cooperative relation to each other, are separate and distinct inventions not claimed herein, a detailed description thereof will yet be of advantage and will conduce to a clear understanding of their inter-relation and co-action in the one press forming the Subj ect matter of the present application.

In the drawings is shown an offset press constructed according to the present invention, wherein the form or plate cylinder is indicated at 1l, the blanket cylinder at 12, the impression cylinder at'13, the delivery cylinder at 14 and an auxiliary delivery cylinder at 15.

- Blanket cylinder trip, single revolution.

For the purpose of tripping the blanket cylinder out of operative contact with both the form cylinder and the impression cylinder, the blanket cylinder has its bearings in bearing blocks eccentrically mounted. This eccentric bearing is indicated at 16 and is connected by means of the rod 17 with an arm 18 fixed upon the shaft 19. The shaft 19 also has fastened thereon an arm 20 with a latch plate 21. An arm 22 is loosely pivoted upon the shaft 19 and in turn has pivoted thereto at 23 a latch 24, the purpose of which will be shortly described. The cam groove 25 is formed on the end of the blanket cylinder 12for traverse by a rollerv 26 carried by one arm 27 of an angle lever fulcrumed at 28 and having another arm 29 pivotedkat 30 to a link 31 connected to the arm 22, which is loose on the shaft 19.

The latch 24 is pivote'd at 23 to the arm 224 a cam faced arm 32 pivoted at 33 and having an arm 34 extending at an angle and pivoted at 35 to one member of the toggle lever 36, 37. The member 37 of the toggle is mounted on the rock shaft 38 from which an arm 39 angularly extends provided with a lug 40.

The toggle 36, 37 is straightened or broken in leither direction by means of a link 41 connected at 42tothe toggle joint and at 43 to a. treadle 44 fulcrumed at 45. For convenience of access a duplicate treadle 44a is provided at the op-posite side of the press and is operatively connected with the treadle 44 by means of the link 46. The two treadles 44 and 44a are normally held yieldingly in their elevated position by means of the rod 47 guided in the brackets 48 and under the control of the spring 49.

Ttis well understood that in mechanism of this character it is essential that the tripping of the cylinders shall take place only at certain stages of the passage ofa sheet through the press, and in order to insure this the impression cylinder 13 is provided with a cam roove 50 traversed by a cam roller 51 carried by one arm 52 of a bell crank lever fulc-rumed at 53, the other arm 54 of which is connected by means of a link 55 with an arm 56 pivoted at 57, which arm 56 is provided with a stop 58. The stop 58 during the dwell of the cam 50 is in the path of the lug 40 carried by the arm 39 and is only removed therefrom when the roller 51 reaches the high point of the cam as indicated in Fig. 2, at which time it is permissi- -ble to trip the blanket cylinder. It will be observed that upon the point/57 i-s also pivoted another arm 59 bearing a stop 60 which is normally interposed in the path of the lug 40 carried by the arm 39 and consequently serves to limit the rearward movement of the arm 39 and lug 40 to a point just clear of the stop 58, This arm 59 is connected by means of a. link 61 with a lever 62, fulcrumed at 63 and carrying a cam roll 64 which travels in the cam groove 50.

Let us assume that, operating as a single revolution offset press, it becomes necessary to trip the blanket cylinder 12 by reason of a mis-fed sheet or other temporary contingency. The operator steps upon the treadle 44 or 44n which brings the lug 40 against the stop 58. As soon as the cam roll 51 reaches the position indicated in Fig. 2 the stop 58 will be withdrawn out of the path of the press, to the arm 20 fast on the shaft 19. Thereafter the shaft 19 partakes of the motion of the arm 22 imparted b-y means of the cam roller 26 traversing the groove 25, the shaft 19 is angularly shifted and, acting through the arm 18 and the rod 17 upon the eccentric 16, trips the b-lanket cylinder 12 out of contact with the plate cylinder 1l and the impression cylinder 13.

This tripped relation of the blanket cylinder may be maintained throughout successive revolutions of the press cylinders if the operator keeps his foot upon the'treadle 44. In circumstances such as those assumed, however, the operator will immediately remove his foot from the treadle 44 and the arm 39 will be held in tripped position by means of the stop V58 which will have dropped in front of the lug 40. When the impression cylinder 13 shall have made one revolution, and the cam roller 51 has reached again the position shown in Fig. 2, the stop 58 will be removed out of the path of the lug 40 permitting the spring 49 to raise the treadle and restore the parts of the mechanism to the position shown in said figure, whereupon the latch 24 will have disengaged from the latch plate 21 and the cylinder 12 will be returned to its printing relation with the other cylinders.

Occasions arise when it is desirable to maintain the blanket cylinder out of contact relation with the other cylinders throughout successive revolutions as for instance, when preliminarily inking the form or plate cylinder 11, making it advantageous todisconnect the tripping mechanism at the parts 21, 24 so that the blanket cylinder 12 will remain tripped instead of successively trip-- ping at each revolution of the cylinder as would be the case if the treadle 44 were held down in the position previously indicated. This .is accomplished in the manner following:

Having depressed the ner previously indicated, bringing the lug 40 against the sto-p 60, the operator continues his pressure upon the treadle 44 until the cam roll 64 reaches the high point of the cam groove 50 corresponding to that occupied in Fig. 2 by the cam roller 51. Atthis point the stop 60 is lifted out of the path of the lug 40 and the arm 39 can move still further to the left to a position with the lug 40 beyond the stop 60, again breaking the toggle 36, 37 but in the opposite direction, releasing the connection between the latch 24 and the latch plate 21 while the cylinder 12 is in -tripped position. The latch 65 may then be brought into place to hold the treadle in this extreme posit-ion so that the arm 39 cannot again swing to the right upon the removal of the stop 60 and 58 at each revolution of the cylinder. Under lever 44 and4 straightened the toggle 36, 37 in the manythese conditions, the blanket cylinder l2 Blanket cylinder trip, double revolution.

When operating as a double revolution press, it will be understood that the time of tripping must accord with the double revolution, instead of the single revolution as l under the conditions previously described.

All the parts of the mechanism previously referred to by reference numeral are employed when running as a double revolution press which are included between numerals 16 and 58 inclusive with the exception of the arm 34, cam arm 32 and the pivot 35. When changing to a double revolution press the arm 36 of the toggle lever is disconnected from the arm 34 at the pivotal point 35 and is instead connected at 35'a (Fig. 2) to an arm 66 of an angle lever fulcrumed at 67, the other arm 68 of said lever being provided with a projecting nose 69. Operating as a double revolution press, the arm 34 is substituted by the arm 34a to the upper end of which at 70 is pivoted the arm 71 carrying a cam roll 7 2 which bears upon the cam 73, the latter being driven so as to make one revolution to each two revolutions of the respective cylinders 11, 12 and 13. Having fixed relation to the arm 71 is' an ar'm74, having at its lower end a hooked projec- .tion 75.

Running normally, the two-armed lever 71, 74 is essentially integral with arm 34u since the projection 69 of arm 68 holds arm 74 through its projection 75 at the point of oscillation. This allows cam arm 32a with its arm 34a, through arms 71, 74 to raise and lower latch 24 successively for printing and tripped revolutions under the influence of cam 73 against which the roll 72 is held by spring 76. The printing revolution obtains when latch 24is disconnected and cam roller 72 is on the high partof cam 73, while the tripped revolution obtains when cam roller 72 is on low part of cam 73. To trip for a misfed sheet, the latch 24 must remain the connected position duringy the print- -lng revolution which under normal conditions obtains with cam roller 72 on high part of cam 73. ln other words the cam roller 72 must not act to raise latch 24 during the printing revolution. This condition is brought about by the projecting nose 69 on arm 68 moving down out of the path of projection on arm 71, 74, allowing the latter 71, 74 to oscillate freely about its center 70 on arm 34B.

Suppose it is desired to trip the blanket cylinder, the operator steps upon the treadle 44 straightening the toggle 36, 37 to a certain extent whereby the projecting nose 69 of the arm 68 is lowered out of the ath of the hooked projection 75 of the arm 4 thus eecting an uncoupling of the lever 71, 74 with the arm 34a and allowing the cam arm 32a to remain in the lower position so as to permit the latch 24 to stay in engagement with the plate 21 and utilize the reciprocatory motion of the link 31 to trip the cylinder 12 in the manner previously described.v

This can only be done, as in the previous case, when the stop 58 is lifted out of the path of the lug 40 by the cam roll 51 having reached lits proper position, thestop 58 then' dropping in front of the lug 40 to' hold it in 'i tripped position until the next revolution of the cylinder 13, at which time the lug 58 will be lifted, the arm 39 allowed to move to.

the right, and the members 6,8, 74 coupled soy as to disconnect the latch 24 from the plate 21 at the proper time for the printing revo-i lution to begin and allowing ,the cylinder 12 to remain in operating contact with the cylinders 11 and 13. v v

Impression cylinder trip.

In order to permit the impression cylinder l 13 to' be tripped from contact with the [nk roller trip.

In the form of construction shown, the form and rider rolls are made in two sets eachY set comprising three form rolls and two rider rolls. For convenience the two sets of form rolls are lettered 82 and 83 respectively and the two sets of rider, rolls 84 and 85 respectively (Figs. 1 and 2). The formv rolls 82 are mounted in a frame 86 hingedly supported in the main frame at 87 while the form rolls 83 are similarly mounted in a frame 88 hingedly mounted at 87a. The innermost adjacent rolls 82, 83 are mounted in slotted bearings on a rigid frame so as to be susceptible of movement relative to said frame in a direction tangent to the innermost rider rolls 84, 85. The shafts 89, 89a carry arms 90, 91, geared by means of teeth to the trip bars 92, 93 and op-y crank levers fulcrumed at 96, 97 and having arms 98, 99 arranged to act upon the under beveled surface ofthe frames 86, 88, pivoted at 87, 87 and bearing at their free ends `The remaining rolls 82, 83 are moved with frames 86, 88 away from the cylinder in substantially radial directions.

By reason of the fact that the angular area of the plate or fo-rm cylinder contacting at any one time with the form rollers 82, 83 is only slightly less than the gap in said cylinder indicated at 104, it is necessary that these two sets of` ink rollers be tripped in succession rather than simultaneously. It is also necessary,in order to effect a tripping of these rolls when and only when the gap is beneath the same, that the tripping impulse be sto-red up and utilized in its act-ion upon the ink rolls at the proper moment. To effect this result the following mechanism is employed: Upon the shaft 19 is fixed an additional arm 105 pivoted at 106 to a link 107 connected at 108 to the arm 109 of a bell crank lever fulcrumcd at 110, the other arm 111 of which 4is pivoted at 112 to -a block 113 mounted upon a storage bar 114 which has secured thereto at 115 the lower end of the rod 92. The block 113 is slidable uponthe rod 114 and has interposed between it and lock nuts 116 on said rod a compression spring 117. Upon the other side of the block 113 is arranged a compression spring 118 which bears with its opposite end upon a nut 119. Upon the rod 114 is likewise mounted at one side thereof a block 120 slidable upon a second bar 121 and bearing at one side upon al compression spring 122 which abuts against the lock nut 123 and at the other side upon a. compression spring 124, which abuts against a lock nut 125, the opposite end of the bar 121 being connected at 126 to the trip bar 93.

At the end of the plate or form cylinder 11 is arranged a. cam groove 127 traversed by two cam rollers 128, and 129, the former carried by the arm 130 of a. bell crank lever fulcrumed at 131 and carrying by its other arm 132 a roller 133, while the other cam roll 129 is carried by the arm 134 of a bell crank lever fulcrumed at 13,5 and carrying by its other arm 136 a roller 137. The trip bar 92 has upon its outer edge a recess 138 adapted to receive the roller 133 while the bar 93 has upon its inner face a. similar recess 139 for the reception of the ,roller 137. These two trip bars 92, 93 are provided respectively with lugs 140, 141 arranged to coact with lugs 142, 143 upon the frame.

Upon the tripping of the blanket cylinder i'n the manner previously described, whether acting as a single or double revolution press, the angular shifting of the shaft 19 to shift the blanket cylinder will at the same time by means of the arm 105 lower the link 107 and thereby tend to move the bar 114 to Lacasse the left. The movement of the bar is resisted by the roller 133 bearing against the lower end of the bar 92 and consequently the spring 117 is compressed. At a time corresponding to the passage of the gap 104 beneath the form rollers 82 the cam roller 128 will have reached the high'point of the cam 127 and the roller 133 will be lifted to a position in line with the recess 138, whereupon the lower end of `the bar 92 will move to the left relieving the pressure onthe spring 117 and permitting the same to again expand. The entering of the cam roller 128 onto the low part of the cam 127 will pull down the bar 92 and, connected by the bearing at its upper end, will swing the form roller frames upwardly upon their hinge 87, thus tripping the set of form rolls 82.

At the moment the roller 133 is in line with the recess 138 and the lower end of bar 92 moves to the left due to the energy stored in the compression spring 117, the lower end of har 93 tends to move to the left also but this movement is resisted by roller 137 on lever 136 bearing on edge of bar 93. Consequently the movement of-bar 114 to the left compressesspring 122, which is much lighter than spring 117, and not until roll 129 reaches the high part of cam 127 will the roller 137 on arm 136 come in line with recess 139 and allow the spring 122 to force bar 93 to the left. The entering of cam roller 129 onto the low part of cam 127 will pull down bar 93 thus tripping the set of'form rolls 83.

Vhen, upon the next revolution of the cylinders, the tripping mechanism is released at 40, 58, as previously described, the i link 107 will be moved upward and its force Stored reversely within the spring 118 and slightly later in 124. By virtue of' the fact that the movement of bars 92, 93 is resisted by lugs 140, 141 being in contact with rigid stops 142, 143 and not until roller 133 raises bar 92 to its highest position will the spring 1.18 be free to move bar 114 tothe right disconnecting bar 92 from operating cam 127. The movement of bar 114 to the right compresses spring 124 (which is much lighter than spring 118) since the lug 141 o-n bar 93 is in contact with rigid stop 143. rlhen as roller 137 moves bar 93 up to its highest position lug 141 moves out of the path of stop 143 and spring 124 is free to move bar 93 to the right thereby disconnecting form roll set 83. l

Provision is made for the manual lifting of all of the form rolls by the hand lever 145 loosely pivoted onthe cross shaft 89a and connected by a link 146 with an arm 147 on the cam 148 and by a linkl 149 with an arm 150 of a cam 151, said cams operating to raise roller frames 86, 88 and by a link 152 with an arm 1153 on a cross shaft 154 connecting to similar arms and links i previously described. l

When starting up a press of this type it is necessary to ink up the plate while the blanket cylinder 12 is out of contact with it, i. e.` when the blanket cylinder is in the tripped position. Normally the tripped position of the blanket cylinder automatically trips the form rolls as previously described and in order to ink up the plate it is necessary to neutralize the automatic roll trip mechanism. This is done in the following mannerrHand lever 155 is fastened to a shaft 156 about whose center it pivots. Lever 157 also fastened to shaft 156 has a stud 158 extending laterally and in the path of a slot 159 in bar 114. With the blanket cylinder in the tripped position bar 114 automatically moves to the left connecting up mechanism previously described to raise the form rolls. By throwing lever 155 upward to the right approximately 90 stud 158 moves about pivot 156 and contacts with the right inner edge of slot 159 acting as a stop to prevent bar 114 from moving to the left. This causes the movement of bell crank arm 111 to compress spring 117- but effecting no movement of bars 92, 93 by cam rolls 127 and 128. rlhus the form rolls are not raised from contact with t the plate surface.

i Ink distributing rolle/rs.

In order to afford ready access to the rider and form rolls of the inking system for cleaning and other purposes, the overlying ink distributing rolls are mounted on a carriage for ready movement from a normal operative position above the rider rolls to Va position at one side and clear thereof, a temporary clearance track being provided for the carriage which track when not in use-can be readilytremoved out of the wa Having this object in view, the upper set of distributing ink rolls 160, instead of being mounted in ixed portions of the supporting frame as is usual are instead mounted in a carriage 161 arranged t0 travel by means of the wheels 162 upon a track 163, this track consisting of parallel rails constituted by the upper edge of the supporting frame. Normally, when in operation,

,the carriage is locked in position upon the frame in any well known suitable way.

To accommodate the carriage and its load of distributing rolls when moved from normal operative position a clearance track is provided formed of rails 163EL arranged as a continuation of the rails 163 andhin ed thereto at 164. The rails 163a conitutmg the clearance track are, when in use, de-

l tachably .held in parallel xed relation by means of any suitable latch device of any well known construction.

When it is desired to gain access to the set of rider rolls the carriage 161 is relieved from its connection to thel frame and rolled to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1 upon the clearance track 163g. When the purpose of its removal has been accomplished, the carriage is returned with its load of ink distributing rolls to the position shown in full lines, the latch is released and the rails 163 may be swung upon their hinges 164 to a position alongside the rails 163 where they will be out of the way. f

Normal sheet pile deliver/y.

In ordinary operation, the sheet fed to the press from the feed board 171, having received its impression while carried by the impression cylinder 13 in contact with the blanket cylinder 12, is taken from the grippers of the impression cylinder by the grippers 172 carried by sheet conveying chains 173 traversing the delivery cylinder 14 and its cooperating cylinder 14a, and is carried by the grippers 172 printed face downward along the upper reach'v of said chain 173 beneath the section hood l74and in the old'and well known manner is held thereby with its printed face outv of contact with the chains 173 in order to pre- 'asy vent smutting. lt is then carried by the l grippers 172 around the cylinder 1411 beneath the hood 175 and over the suction restraining device 176, which latter exercises a restraining action upon. 'the trailing porand the construction and operation of the iling table is that disclosed in the patent to ich, No. 1,145,921, dated July 13, 1915.

rlhe characteristic feature herein to be noted is the manner of mounting thepiling table and delivery mechanism, above described, in such manner as to arrange for the moving of the same away from the press proper in order to give access to the working parts of the press at the delive side thereof. To this end the piling tab e 177 is suspended from a carriage 178 which also serves as a mounting for the cylinders 14, 14a of the delivery mechanism. rl`he carriage 178 travels by means of rollers indicated at 179 upon suitable tracks on a horif the other end upon standards 181.

zontal frame 180 supported at one end upon the frame of the printing ,l press andTlait e standards and frame carry pillow blocks 182 within which is journaled a shaft 183, provided with a hand wheel 184 and having xed thereon a pinion 185 in mesh with a rack 186 on the carriage.

It will be obvious that by the rotation of the hand wheel 184C the carriage with its burden of delivery mechanism and piling table may be moved from an operative position adjacent the press to an inoperative position spaced therefrom in order to give access thereto. The removal of the piling table and delivery mechanism in this manner provides a passageway and space for a workman between the press and the said delivery mechanism and piling table without the necessity of having an extension delivery at a considerable elevation in order to provide this accessibility.

lln printing presses of this general type it has been proposed to take the sheet from the impression cylinder and deliver the same at that side of the press opposite the feed board in which delivered position the top sheet would be exposed to view by the pressman and the quality of the work could be inspected from time to time. An objection to this mode of delivery is that the sheets are delivered in a osition near the floor and where they wou d be in the way of the pressman, involving the carrying away of the printed sheets at frequent intervals. 1n order to provide for a piling table with a wide range of vertical movement adapted to accommodate a large number of sheets and to permit the same to be carried away by a truck in large quantities, it has been found desirable to deliver the sheets as previously described on the same side of the press as the feed board, but this has necessitated frequent trips by the pressmanto the delivery table in order to inspect the work. 1n order to combine the advantages of a piling table placed beneath the feed board and at the same time to facilitate inspection of the sheets when desired, the present arrangement is designed.

Auwilz'ary sheet delivery.

As herein shown the ress is provided with the regular delivery cy inder 14; on the feed end of the ness and also with an auxiliary delivery cy inder 15 for delivering sheets for inspection upon the table 190. 'llo control this auxiliary delivery, the following mechanism is provided: rllhe arm 29, previ- 'ously described, has fixed thereon a stud 191 which lays within a slot 192 of a link bar 193. pon this link bar 193 is pivoted at 194C a latch 195 adapted to hook over the stud 191 and lock the lever arm 29 and the link bar 193 together. The opposite lend of messes the link bar 193 is pivoted at 196 'to an arm 197 connected to the eccentric shaft 198 which acts upon the bearings of the auxiliary cylinder 15 to move the same bodily towards and from the impression cylinder 13. An arm 199 extending beyond the eccentric 198 has a lateral cam face adapted to bear against the stud pin 200 and project the same into the path of the grippers 201 carried by the impression cylinder.

A lever 202 fastened to eccentric shaft 198 has a slide link 203 pivoted at 204 and sliding in 205. Link 206 is connected at 207 to l 203 at one end and to 208 on cam 209 at the other end, which cam is in the path of the gripper operating lever 210.v

The operation is as follows: If the pressman desires to inspect a sheet upon the table 190 he pulls the hand lever 211 and thereby drops the latch 195 into engagement with the stud 191 causing the link bar 193 to partake of the motion of the lever arm 29, shifting the eccentric shaft 198 to bring the auxiliary cylinder 15 into operative engagement with the impression cylinder 13 and permit the grippers 212 to take the sheet therefrom, the stud pin 200 having been projected into the path of the grippers 201` to actuate the latter to release the sheet as it is taken by the grippers'212.

rlhe lever 202 which is fastened to eccentric shaft 198 moves slide link 203 to the left causing cam 209 through link 206 to advance to a position to close the grippers 212 on the sheet the instant grippers 201 re lease it from the impression cylinder. rlhe reverse movement of the lever 211 restores the auxiliary cylinder 15 to a position'where it will not take the sheet from the impression cylinder 13 but permits the same to be carried to its position of normal delivery to the delivery cylinder 14 and the pilingtable 177.

A further important characteristic feature of the press is the operation of the impressio-n and blanket cylinders about fixed centers as distinguished from the hitherto common arrangement of a yielding or adjustable' connection therebetween.

While in the prior art provision has' been made for a fixed relation between an impression cylinder and a plate or form cylinder in direct printing, the impression l cylinder being arranged for the interposition of a packing or underlay between the blanket or tympan and the surface of the impression cylinder to compensate for different thicknesses of paper, the relation between the impression cylinder and the blanket cylinder in offset printing has been uniformly a changeable one, including means for adjustment of the radial distance between centers to compensate for diderences in thickness of paper, without provision for the packing of the impression cylinder, coacting bearers on mesma the two cylinders being omitted, with the result that the driving relation of the co-acting gears has varied to such an extent 'as to defeat the obtention of 'accurate register necessar to perfect results in printing.

ccording to our invention, the impression cylinder 13 is provided with bearers 13a for cooperation with the bearers 12a of the blanket cylinder whereby alixed relation is maintained between centers and a vconsequent fixed relation between the driving gear teeth of the two cylinders, the difference in thicknesses of paper being com ensated for by packing the impression. cylin er as is well known in other relation in this art.

We claim:

`1. In a printingpress, in combination,

printing means, a normal delivery for the completed work at the feeder 'end of the press, inking mechanism at the opposite end 0f the press, and auxiliary delivery means for delivering inspection sheets at that end of the press at which the inking mechanism is located, whereby the operator may have ready access toboth the auxiliary inspection sheet delivery means and the inking mechanism.

2. In a printing press, in combination, printing means, sheet feeding means, inking mechanism at one end of the press, means yin approximate line with said inking mechanism for delivering sheets for inspection at the same end of the press, and a normal delivery means located remote from the inking mechanism and the inspection sheet feeding means to enable` the latter and said inking mechanism to occupy adjacent positions whereby the operator may have ready access to both the inspection sheet delivery means and the inking mechanism.

3. In a printing press, in combination, plate, blanket, and impression cylinders, a sheet piling delivery at the feeder end ofthe press, said sheet piling'delivery being shiftable away from the adjacent cylinder to permit ready access thereto, inking mechanism at the other end of the press, and auxiliary means for delivering sheets for inspection at that end of the press at which the inking mechanism is located, whereby the operator may have ready access tolboth the inspection sheet delivery ,means and the inking mechamsm. u

4:. In a printing press, in. combination, printing means, feeding means, inking mechanism at one end of the press, means for delivering sheets for inspection at lthat end of the press at which the inking mechanism is located, and a normal delivery for the completed work located at a point remote from said inspection sheet delivery means, whereby the operator may have ready access to both the inspection sheet delivery means and the inking mechanism.

In witness whereof we have hereunto signed our names in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

A. G. FISCHER, R. M: MARMI.. 

